How to Target Journals

1. How to Target Journals Dr. Steve Wallace

2. Outline of Speech • Review journal guidelines to determine what kind of papers journals are looking for. • Avoid two things in a paper that always make reviewers angry. • Use an academic social network to increase your chance of acceptance. • Identify journals with rising and falling impact factors. • Cite references politely to earn better reviews. • Identify the three types of academic journals. • Select and target journals while identifying those where you probably won’t be accepted.

3. Collect a Pool of Potential Journals for Each Article • For each paper, collect a pool of potential journals. • 1) Do not submit two papers to the same journal in two months, especially if the two articles are related. • 2) Editors prefer to publish two articles by different authors. • 3) Better for your CV

4. Collecting Your Pool • Keywords • Relatedness metrics • References • Scopus • Aims and scope • Editor’s letter • Reviewing the journal

5. Send Your Research Where You Have the Highest Probability of Publication • Sometimes journals have biases and preferences. • Subject matter: empirical, theoretical papers? • Check past issues of the journal. How many Chinese names can you find? • Preferences are known; biases are difficult to detect.

6. Practice:Pick Journals Like You Pick Stocks • Do homework on journals. • Submit paper to a journal with a rising impact factor and higher acceptance rates. Avoid declining journals with low acceptance and diminishing impact factors. • Could cause the journal to be removed from the SSCI and SCI ranking.

7. Practice: Identifying Journals with Rising Impact Factors • Good specialty journal’s impact factors are rising. • General journals’ impact factors, except for a few at the top, are expected to decline. • In general journals, "readers are confronted with a decreasing probability of finding at least one important article in their field" (Holub, Tappeiner, and Eberharter, 1991). • In the 1970s, the top ten journals in every field were general journals. • In the 1990s, half of the top ten journals were specialized journals.

8. How Do Journals Compare to Each Other? • Journal Citation Reports, published annually by the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, provides statistical information about all established journals.

9. Total Citations • Total Citations (TC) is the number of all citations of papers published in the journal during a year. A large TC may indicate a journal's dominance in the field. • A large TC is also characteristic of multidisciplinary journals (such as Nature) and journals catering to broad fields (such as Journal of Geophysical Research). • A small TC may indicate a journal's weakness or less frequent publication. However, a small TC is also typical for narrow-specialty journals, even of high quality.

10. Cited Half-Life • Cited Half-Life (CHL) is the number of journal publication years going back from the current year, accounting for 50% of the total citations received by the cited journal in the current year. • Indicates the age of its average cited articles. A large CHL may imply longevity of the published information. • However, a relatively small CHL may reflect a journal's emphasis on cutting edge research and timeliness.

11. Impact Factor • Impact Factor (IF) is the ratio between the number of all current citations of source items published in a journal during the previous 2 years to the total number of articles that the journal published during that time. • Can also be viewed as the frequency with which the "average article" in the journal has been cited in a particular year. • Also believed to be a fair quality measure that "tends to discount the advantage that large, frequently issued, older journals have over smaller, less frequently issued, newer journals" [McDonnell, 1997].

12. Practice Approach Different Types of Journals • Sending all papers to top journals is risky. • Sending all papers to low-quality journals is unsatisfactory. • Quantity and quality important. • Having three papers in different journals is better than three in one journal, if the relative quality of the journals is the same.

13. Questionable Publishing Outlets • Chapters in edited volumes • Non-peer reviewed academic journals • Graduate student journals • Note journals • Review journals • Local journals • New journals • Electronic journals • Non-SCI journals

14. Preferred Publishing Outlets Regional journals Newer journals Interdisciplinary journals Field journals Disciplinary journals

15. Problems of Journals Association journals: Editors change every few years, and usually accept more papers from colleagues and friends. Because the editors are chosen from a few major institutions, they get a larger share of publications. They are subsidized by associations (AER, Econometrica, IEEE, ACM). University journals: Universities protect their own interests and will often have a stated preference for their own teachers’ and students’ papers. Subsidized by universities (HBR, MIT Sloan). Commercial journals: Least likely to have preferences or biases. Subsidized by reader subscriptions (Blackwell, North-Holland, Elsevier ).

16. Reviewing Journals (1) • Is the journal peer reviewed? • Is the journal in the recommended publishing outlet category? • Does the journal have a solid reputation and reputable publisher? • How old is the journal? • Is the journal carefully produced? • Does the journal come out on time? • Are the authors published in its pages diverse?

17. Reviewing Journals (2) • Does the journal publish more than five or six articles a year? • Is the journal online or indexed electronically and where? • Does it take a long time to get published once you submit your manuscript? • Is the journal going through a transition? • Who reads the journal?

18. Matching Your Article to the Journal • Does the journal have an upcoming theme or special issue on your topic? • Does the journal have word or page length limits you can meet? • Does the style of your article match the journal style? • Do you know any of the journal editors? • How does the journal require articles to be submitted?

19. Questions for the Assistant Editor • How many submissions a year does your journal receive? • What is your journal’s turnaround time? • What is your journal’s backlog?

20. Elements of a Query Letter to the Editor Address editor by name Any human connections Why he should be interested Display a knowledge of the journal Your title and abstract Article’s length Not been published before Grants or awards Potential problem to tease review

21. Emerald Insight JournalsEmma Hollindrake, External Relations Assistant • “Don’t forget that you can always email an editor outlining your proposed paper (sending just the abstract is best) to see if they think your paper is suitable (if you have three possible journals, send the outline/abstract to all three editors!); they are usually more than willing to offer advice and will often suggest an alternative journal if they feel their journal is not the best one for your paper.”

22. Query Letter to Editor • One of the best things you can do to improve chances of acceptance • Four responses • “Send it in” – time pressure • Mini review with little problems • Negative response • No response

23. Keep a Record of Your Publications • Some effective researchers use a “research log” to: • 1) Know when to send a reminder to the editor; • 2) Prevent resubmission of a rejected paper to the same journal; and • 3) Avoid multiple submissions of several papers to the same journal within a short period of time.

24. Submission Guidelines: Worth the Trouble • Following the Instructions to Authors reduces the chances of the manuscript being rejected by the journal editors, even before the process for peer review. • Editors don’t like to see a paper that has been correctly prepared for a competing journal.

25. Reasons for Major Revision or Rejection of Taiwanese Journal Papers

26. How to Understand the Journal’s Instructions to Authors The Instructions to Authors contain the journal's expectations about: • Type of articles accepted • Required format for each type of article • Type of illustrations (photographs/tables/figures) • Language • Publishing charges (if any) • Any other instructions about the journal

27. Topic of Submission • First article of new editor • Last article of the year • Aims and scope

28. Types of Articles Acceptable to the Journal • Letters to the Editor • Short communications • Full-length research papers • Review articles

29. Pre-submission Letter to the Editor • Required or not?

30. English Level • British or American English?

31. British vs. US Spelling • Generally, American journals require US spelling and British journals require British spelling, but many accept either form as long as the spelling used is consistent haematoma vs.hematoma analysed vs. analyzed labelling vs. labeling behaviour vs. behavior

32. Formatting Style for the Main Text Most journals set a limit on the: • Number of words • Number of pages • Font size (10-, 11-, or 12-point size) • Line spacing (usually double-spaced). • Right margin or unjustified. • Single column or double column format • Page numbers Some journals, such as Nature, provide templates to be used for formatting the manuscript.

33. Format for the Title Page Journals differ in their requirements for the title page. Most journals specify that the title page should be typed on a separate sheet of paper and should include the: • Title of the article • Author’s name • Academic degrees • Address of university or institute • Word count • Name of the person for correspondence

34. Format for the Abstract The journal specifies: • Number of words permitted (usually from 250–350 words); • Content expected in the abstract; • Whether the IMRAD format needs to be followed; and • Whether it needs to be typed on a separate sheet of paper.

35. Number of Keywords Required • Keywords are required to help find articles using search engines on the Internet. • Most journals specify the number of keywords they require, ranging from 5 to 10 in number. They are usually included after the abstract.

36. Format for the References • The style to be followed when writing the references with examples for: • Cited papers • Cited books • Cited book chapters

37. Format for Tables The Instructions specify: • Number of tables permitted • Method to be followed for numbering • Word count limit for the titles of tables • Whether a hard copy of the tables is required Most journals request that tables be numberedin the order in which they appear in the paper and that the position of the table in the text be clearly mentioned.

38. Format for Figures and Photographs • Number of figures and photographs • Black and white photographs or color • Size of the figures • Captions and numbering • File formats accepted • Publication charges • Hard copy of figures and photographs is required • Whether figures and photographs should be embedded in the text file or submitted as individual files, or embedded at the end of the text file • Whether the photographs should be printed on glossy or matt paper

39. Instructions About Equations, Units, and Statistics • Most journals provide instructions on math and equations in the text • Rules for writing units (usually SI units are recommended) • Guidelines on presenting statistics

40. Style Guide for Symbols • Most journals specify styles to be used for: • Abbreviations • Symbols • Drugs • Brand names of drugs • Microbial names

41. Method of SubmissionAcceptable to the Journal Submission of the manuscript can be on paper, on a compact disc, or completed electronically.

42. Manuscript File Formats • Commonly requested in MS Word or WordPerfect • Some journals accept submissions in LaTex, PDF, EPS, Text, Postscript, or RTF format • If a PDF document is accepted for publication, a Word or WordPerfect document will be required • Some journals specify file sizes (individual files should usually not exceed 1 KB) and file naming • These should be followed carefully to avoid delays in the review process or rejection

43. Type of Review Process Followed • The journal usually mentions the process followed for review of the submitted manuscript. • If a double-blinded review is to be carried out, authors are requested to ensure that their identities are not revealed.

44. Publication Charges • Some journals may charge for all of the pages, but others may publish a fixed number of pages free and charge only for publishing any pages over this number. • Color photographs are charged for, as well as illustrations/figures exceeding the permitted number.

45. Cover Letter Requirements • Journals such as JAMA, which provide very comprehensive Instructions to Authors, even specify what is required in the cover letter accompanying the manuscript.

46. Cover Letter • Don’t send a letter saying little more than “please find my manuscript attached”. Your paper does not look important. • The cover letter is your chance to talk to the editor of your target journal. • Explain to the editor why your findings are important and why they should be published.

47. Cover Letter General rules for cover letters: • Address an editor by name • Provide your title and publication type • Provide a brief background, rationale, and description of results • Explain the significance of your findings and why they would be of interest to the journal’s target audience • Check the journal’s instructions to ensure that all requirements have been met • Provide corresponding author details

48. For More Information • www.editing.hk • www.editing.hk/blog